Men’s tennis bested by Broncos

Boise State University downs the Rebels in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Championships on Saturday

One of the most successful seasons in recent history for the men’s tennis team came to a screeching halt on Saturday when they were defeated a second time by Boise State University, this time in the Mountain West Conference (MWC) semifinals.

The Rebels entered the match with much-needed momentum, as they were coming off of an impressive 4-1 victory over the University of Nevada, Reno on Thursday in the opening round of the MWC Championships.

However, the Broncos (19-9 overall, 7-1 in conference) proved once again to be too tough for UNLV to handle.

The match was never close, as Boise State clean sheeted the Rebels to the tune of a 4-0 victory.

While the Rebels lost the overall doubles point, their only victorious match of the day came on court two when the team of Tamas Batyi and Johannes Markel defeated Garrett Patton and Scott Sears by a score of 8-5.

The two were actually able to finish the day with blemish-free records, as their singles matches weren’t completed.

After taking an early lead in doubles, the Broncos only needed three of the remaining six singles matches to clinch a spot in the conference championship.

The sweep in singles started with a loss in straight sets by Gilad Berman, who struggled to find his mark down the stretch of the season.

What will go down as a very successful inaugural season at UNLV for the freshman came to a bleak ending as he lost both sets by a wide margin, 6-1 and 6-3.

Boise State’s dominance continued on court five, where Thomas Tenreiro handed UNLV’s Charlie Alvarado a loss in straight sets in what would be Alvarado’s final match as a Rebel.

The match was completed when Filipp Pogostkin took out Bernard Schoeman in two sets.

The matches flew by so quickly, that the final three matches were not needed to advance Boise State to the finals.

Boise State will take on the fourth seeded University of New Mexico, who upset regular season champion San Diego State University, for the conference title.

While it’s a somber end to the season for the Rebels, the team finished with an impressive 17-7 record and ranked No. 62 in the entire nation in the International Tennis Association polls.

The future is bright for the men’s tennis team, as they will return six players who saw playing time this season in 2013.